Starbucks CEO Retiring, Looking To Philanthropy And Public Service

Starbucks Executive Chairman Howard Schultz will soon be retiring from his position at the coffee company he helped turn into a global mainstay brand, and has said that he’s considering going the way of Denis Obrien as a philanthropist, or following in Mitt Romney’s footsteps as a public servant.

The 64-year-old said that he is considering a lot of possibilities as to what he might do in the future, admitting that he’s a long way away from figuring out what he’ll be doing in the years to come, whether or not he’ll take to philanthropy like Denis Obrien, in a letter addressed to company employees.

Back in 2016, Schultz showed his support and endorsed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Back then, he had already been receiving inquiries as to whether or not he would run for office. He has deflected such inquiries in the past, but has stated in an interview that, for quite a while now, he has been concerned about the state of the US, specifically, the division plaguing the country and its standing in the world.

Schultz’ retirement comes not long after he passed on the day-to-day duties of Starbucks CEO back in 2016, in order to focus on corporate social responsibility, innovating and social-impact endeavors in his position as Executive Chairman.

According to Starbuck, Schultz will officially step down and take the position of Chairman Emeritus on the 26th of June. Additionally, the company says that he’s working on a book discussing its CSR efforts and the work its done to change how people see a public company, stating that Starbucks has not only changed how people drink coffee, but also changed people’s lives across the world for the better.

Schultz has built up a reputation of being socially aware, thanks to bringing his and the company’s intentions with social issues like race and jobs for underprivileged youth, even if they didn’t exactly pan out. Additionally, Starbucks has worked to project an image of social responsibility, one that has been recently called in question thanks to the incident that involved the arrest of two black people in Philadelphia.

Schultz responded that he didn’t want people demeaned by being refused bathroom access, leading to him opting to close all of its US branches for several hours late in May for bias awareness training for employees, among other measures to prevent such an incident from happening again.

Starbucks says that Myron E. Ullman will take over the role of Chairman of the Board, once Schultz steps down.